Taxpayers may have to fork out up to £10,000 to clean up after a group of travellers who have finally left a school site in Wolverhampton.
The convoy moved onto the site at Parkfield Bilston High School, in Prosser Street, Bilston, more than a week ago after leaving two other city sites “absolutely trashed”.
Wolverhampton City Council, which owns the land, successfully obtained a court order yesterday and within hours bailiffs were at the site to clear off the convoy. One caravan was towed away and impounded.
Council spokesman Tim Clark said litter and gas canisters had been left at the site and it was expected to take a day to clear up.
“The court order itself cost £1,500 and cleaning up could cost up to £10,000,” he said. It depends on exactly what would need doing but it could possibly cost as much as that.”
The travellers have been causing a headache for councillors and residents for a month, and when they set up camp next to the school it was described as the latest move in a “never-ending saga”.
They first pulled onto the former GKN factory site, in Birmingham New Road, on February 22 before moving across the road to a former Texaco filling station.
The site was left “devastated” by the time they moved off nearly two weeks later and they then set up camp at the B&Q and Mecca Bingo car parks in Bilston.
On all those occasions Wolverhampton City Council and the police said they were powerless to help because the travellers had chosen to set up camp on private land and trespassing is considered a civil re-sponse. But councillors say the authority’s swift re-sponse in dealing with the convoy after they pulled onto council-owned land would send out a message it would not be tolerated.
Spring Vale councillor Malcolm Gwinnett said: “The council officers did a great job and put out the message the council would not stand any messing about with this issue.”
2 Comments
it is about time the council made the travelers clean up there mess before moving them on. the council can take there cars off them to pay for the clean up. I for one will not be paying for it.
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I agree with Derek Knowles. If the ‘travellers’ refuse to take all their mess with them, or deposit it at the appropriate disposal facilities then the authorities MUST be given the powers to confiscate property to cover the costs. Its not as though these ‘travellers’ don’t have anything of value either, when you look at the number of brand new cars & 4×4’s they drive around in as well as the vans and other commercial vehicles & plant they use to ply their trades……not to mention the Huge palatial caravans.
Its about time we stopped worrying about “poitical correctness” - these people are living and working in this country and their only contribution to the economy is a Negative one. To put it bluntly, they are thieves - they are stealing services from honest taxpayers and we shouldn’t allow it to continue.
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